As more and more devices become reliant on access to a network to provide services, the security and efficiency involved in the pairing of these devices in the home to a whole-home network becomes increasingly more important. When a user wants to connect a device to a whole-home network, the user generally must identify a network or access point to connect to, and must further input a password associated with the identified network or access point. The password requirement can preclude users or devices that are not subscribed to a service from receiving said service, and the preclusion of unsubscribed users or devices can improve a user's quality of experience associated with a service and can provide security against an aftermarket or grey market in network devices owned by service providers.
Wi-Fi protected setup (WPS) is a network security standard that attempts to provide an efficient and user-friendly method for connecting a device to a whole-home network. The WPS standard temporarily opens an access point so that any device, including devices that are not provisioned to use the access point, can connect to the access point. This window of vulnerability may present security challenges. Therefore, it is desirable to improve upon systems and methods for pairing devices to a network.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.